Wireless network system and method

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a flexible system for providing wireless broadband access. The system can include a gateway that has a plurality of gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units and a network fuser connected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities of the plurality of the GPE units. The network fuser can provide DSP configuration information and RF configuration information to the GPE units. The network fuser is also operable to connect to a high-speed network (e.g., a backhaul network) and to provision data from the high-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units. The system can also include a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) units remote from the gateway.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is continuation of application with Ser. No.10/956,499, filed on Oct. 1, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,033. Theapplication claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/508,193 entitled “A Flexible MIMO-BasedLast Mile Wireless Network System and Method” by Heath et al., filedOct. 2, 2003 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/513,273,filed Oct. 1, 2003, entitled “A Flexible MIMO-Based Last Mile WirelessNetwork System and Method” by Heath et al., both of which are herebyfully incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication networks have enjoyed rapid growth in recentyears, as evidenced by the rapid deployment of IEEE 802.11a/b/g networksand the adoption of 2.5 G and 3 G cellular telephone networks. Thesewireless networks are now used throughout the world. 802.11a/b/gnetworks provide an advantage of working in a band of the radio spectrumcurrently unlicensed in the United States, as described in Rappaport,Wireless Communications, Prentice Hall c. 2002. The use of theunlicensed spectrum allows users including individuals and businesses tosimply purchase equipment and set up wireless devices without requiringlicenses.

Another recent breakthrough, that of MIMO or space time coding, exploitsslight spatial/temporal variations in the wireless communication channel(e.g. the propagation environment). By using multiple, closely spacedantennas, it becomes possible to harness the energy impinging on eachantenna, at either a transmitter or receiver, in order to establish amuch improved wireless communication link as compared to single-antennaor diversity antenna schemes. MIMO and space time coding has beenexplored and described in the following prior art references:

R. W. Heath, Jr. and A. J. Paulraj, “Multiple antenna arrays fortransmitter diversity and space-time coding,” Proc. of the IEEE Int.Conf. on Communications 1999, pp. 36-40, vol. I, Vancouver, Canada, Jun.6-10, 1999. This paper describes the idea of using multiple smartantennas for space-time coding and discusses the effect of imperfectbeamforming; but does not consider explicitly multiple users.

Space-time coding for the parametric fading channel Sandhu, S.; Paulraj,A.; Signals, Systems & Computers, 1998. Conference Record of theThirty-Second Asilomar Conference on, Volume: 1, Nov. 1-4, 1998 Page(s);774-779 vol. 1. This paper describes an idea of coding across beams.This paper is different than the paper by Heath and Paulraj sincemultiple beams in a single adaptive array is used instead of codingacross multiple arrays.

Combined array processing and space-time coding Tarokh, V.; Naguib, A.;Seshadri, N.; Calderbank, A. R.; Information Theory, IEEE Transactionson Volume: 45 Issue: 4, May 1999 Page(s): 1121-1128. This paper showshow to get the benefits of both diversity and rate gain by usingspace-time codes on groups of antennas.

Capacity of multiple-transmit multiple-receive antenna architectures:Lozano, A.; Tulino, A. M. Information Theory, IEEE Transactions onpage(s): 3117-3128 Volume: 48, Issue: 12, December 2002. This paperoffers some capacity results with different antennas architectures andincludes some interference performance results as well.

Turbo-BLAST for wireless communications: theory and experiments:Sellathurai, M.; Haykin, S.; Signal Processing, IEEE Transactions on,Volume: 50 Issue: 10, October 2002 Page(s): 2538-2546. This paperdescribes BLAST in conjunction with turbo codes and teaches thepotential of MIMO when combined with concatenated codes.

Link-optimal BLAST processing with multiple-access interference:Farrokhi, F. R.; Foschini, G. J.; Lozano, A.; Valenzuela, R. A.;Vehicular Technology Conference, 2000. IEEE VTS-Fall VTC 2000. 52nd,Volume: 1, 2000, Page(s): 87-91 vol. 1. This paper describes some MIMOalgorithms that account for interference using well known or standardsignal processing type ideas.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,599, entitled “Increasing capacity in wirelessbroadcast systems using distributed transmission/directional reception(DTDR)”, A. Paulraj and T. Kailath, Issued: September 1994. This patentis one of the first to propose the idea of spatial multiplexing in MIMOcommunication systems; the concept is proposed in the context ofhigh-definition television transmission.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,290 “Spatial Multiplexing in a Cellular Network.” A.J. Paulraj, R. W. Heath, Jr., S. K. Peroor, and D. Gesbert. Filed: Jul.30, 1999. Issued: May 23, 2000. Assignee: Iospan Wireless Inc. (formerlyGigabit Wireless Inc.). This patent discusses the idea of spatialmultiplexing in cellular network; it describes functionality such aspartial handoff and substream control that will be necessary in cellularnetworks that employ MIMO communication systems.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,092 “Methods of Controlling Communication Parametersof Wireless Systems,” R. W. Heath, Jr., S. K. Peroor, and A. J. Paulraj.Filed: Jun. 2, 2000. Issued: Oct. 2, 2001. Assignee: Iospan WirelessInc. This patent describes methods for adaptive space-time modulation.In particular, the patent describes the idea of switching between adiversity space-time code and a multiplexing space-time code.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,632 “Wireless communication system and method usingstochastic space-time/frequency division multiplexing,” A. J. Paulraj,S. K. Peroor, J. Tellado, R. W. Heath, Jr., S. Talwar, and H. Bolcskei.Filed: Jan. 24, 2000. Issued: Apr. 23, 2002. This patent is an extensionof OFDM that involves space/time/frequency domain representations.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,636 “Method and wireless communications system usingcoordinated transmission and training for interference mitigation,” A.J. Paulraj, S. K. Peroor, J. Tellado, and R. W. Heath, Jr. Filed: Nov.2, 1999. Issued: Apr. 23, 2002. This patent describes an idea tocoordinate the transmissions in a cellular network to improve theperformance of interference cancellation algorithms. Each of theforegoing prior art references is hereby fully incorporated by referenceherein.

Current systems employ wireless gateway equipment and wireless userequipment. The wireless user equipment receives signals from and sendssignals to the wireless gateway equipment. The wireless gatewayequipment provides access to another network, such as the internet.Current systems for providing high-speed data access via wirelesscommunication links include directional and cellular systems.Directional systems rely on highly directional antennas at the wirelessgateway equipment and the wireless user equipment that must be pointedline-of-sight at each other for proper operation. These systems cantypically only serve one or a limited number of users. Cellular systems,on the other hand, use a network of base stations to provide wirelesscoverage to a larger number of users. However, cellular systems requirea significant infrastructure investment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method forwireless communication that eliminates, or at least substantiallyreduces, the shortcomings of prior art systems and methods for“last-mile” wireless communication. More particularly, embodiments ofthe present invention provide a flexible system for providing wirelessbroadband access. The system can include a gateway that has a pluralityof gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units and a network fuserconnected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities ofthe plurality of the GPE units. The network fuser can provide DSPconfiguration information and RF configuration information to the GPEunits. The network fuser is also operable to connect to a high-speednetwork (e.g., a backhaul network) and to provision data from thehigh-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units. The system canalso include a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) unitsremote from the gateway. Each GPE unit can establish a wirelesscommunications link, such as a MIMO link, with at least one CPE unit towirelessly transfer data. According to one embodiment of the presentinvention, the GPE units and CPE units can have the same architecture toreduce cost.

The network fuser can be located in a GPE unit (or CPE unit) or can beconnected to the GPE units (or CPE units) via a SCSI bus, network orother data transport medium for transferring configuration informationand data. The network fuser can provide a variety of functions such asprovisioning bandwidth, providing access controls and performing otherfunctions. For example, the network fuser can determine if new GPE unitshave been added to the gateway and can re-provision bandwidthaccordingly.

The network fuser can provision bandwidth based on a number ofparameters, including, but not limited to the forward link state orreverse link state of particular wireless communication links, the stateof the backhaul network, user information (e.g., an access history, auser priority, an account balance grade-of-service, quality-of-servicerequirements) and/or channel statistics (e.g., average capacity, pathloss and fading rate, mean, a variance, a delay spread, a power-delayprofile, Doppler, a special covariance, a correlation, or a space-timecorrelation or other channel statistic). User specific information canbe stored, for example, in a logical table indexed by user name, networkaddress, MAC address, flow number or other identification.

In order to collect channel statistics, for example, the network fusercan instruct one or GPE units and/or CPE units to probe channels usingtraining sequences, pilot tones or other channel probing mechanismsknown in the art. The channel probes can occur on-line or off-line. TheGPE units and CPE units can return channel measurements to the networkfuser. The network fuser can derive instantaneous channel statisticsbased on the channel probes and adjust bandwidth provisioning accordingto any provisioning algorithm known in the art. Additionally, thenetwork fuser can instruct the GPE and CPE units to perform channelprobes to determine interference caused by simultaneous transmissions.The network fuser can use the channel statistics to provision bandwidthor to adjust the antennas and/or beam patterns of the GPE units and/orCPE units.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, bandwidthprovisioning can occur based on the amount of data queued for aparticular CPE. The network fuser can be operable to determine the CPEunit from the plurality of CPE units that has a largest queue of data tobe sent, determine a maximum data rate that can be used to send data tothe CPE unit with the largest queue and if a total capacity exceeds themaximum data rate, provisioning bandwidth to send data to the CPE unitwith the largest queue and using excess capacity to service other CPEunits.

In addition to provisioning bandwidth, the network fuser can adjustadaptive antennas at the GPE units and/or CPE units based on userinformation, channel statistics, grade-of-service requirements, serviceprovider requirements, quality-of-service requirements or otherparameters. The antennas can be adjusted to affect the beam formingprovided by a GPE and/or CPE units. Additionally, the network fuser canallocate physical resources to the connected GPE and or CPE units.

The GPE and CPE units can have the same architecture so that the samephysical box can be deployed at either the gateway, as part of the basestation, or the customer premises. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, the GPE or CPE unit can have a flexible architecturethat allows additional RF circuitry, which can be included on a RAD cardto be easily added to the GPE or CPE. The GPE or CPE can include an RFbackplane with antenna connections to connect to antennas and RFconnections to connect to radio circuitry (i.e., RF circuitry). The RFbackplane can be configurable to connect the antenna connections to theRF connections in a variety of configurations. The GPE or CPE can beconfigured such that additional sets of RF circuitry can be addedthrough, for example, the addition of new RAD unit. The RF backplane canbe reconfigured to accommodate the new RF circuitry. The GPE or CPE unitcan include a network fuser that can determine when a new RAD unit hasbeen added to reconfigure the RF backplane and, for example,re-provision bandwidth or physical resources.

Another embodiment of the present invention can include a system forwireless communication that can include a network fuser connected to afirst customer or gateway premises equipment (GPE/CPE) unit (e.g.,customer premises or gateway premises equipment) via a control datatransport medium (e.g., SCSI bus, Ethernet, wireless link, fibrechannel, optical link, ATM network or other data transport medium knownin the art). The network fuser through, for example, execution ofcomputer instructions, can be operable to provide radio frequency (“RF”)configuration information and digital signal processing (“DSP”)configuration information to a first GPE/CPE unit. The DSP configurationinformation can include an indication of the space-time algorithm thatthe first GPE/CPE unit should use, coding to be applied by the firstGPE/CPE unit, modulation to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit andother configuration information that affects how the GPE/CPE unitprocesses data to be transmitted via a wireless communication link orreceived via the wireless communication link. The RF configurationinformation can include RF parameters such as gain, phase, attenuation,oscillator, or RF frequency that can be applied. Other RF configurationinformation can include the subset of antennas from which to receivesignals if signal combining is to be performed, the weights of theantenna combining including phased or more sophisticated weightingmethods, whether to power on or power off the RF circuitry or otherconfiguration information that can affect an RF circuitry.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first GPE/CPEunit can include a plurality of antennas, and a plurality of sets of RFcircuitry. The GPE/CPE unit can include an RF backplane that includes RFbackplane circuitry that is operable to connect the RF circuitry to theantennas in a variety of configurations. The RF backplane can have anarbitrary number of connections for antennas and RF circuitry so thatadditional RF circuitry and antennas can be connected to the RFbackplane. The RE backplane can be connected to the control datatransport medium and can receive control signals from the network fuser.The network fuser can be operable to configure the RF backplane toconnect various antennas to RF circuitry according to a configurationdetermined by the network fuser. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, the network fuser can be integrated into the GPE/CPE unit.

The first GPE/CPE unit can also include one or more adaptive antennas.The network fuser can configure the GPE/CPE unit to adjust the adaptiveantennas by, for example, providing RF configuration information to theGPE/CPE unit or adjusting an RF backplane. The network fuser can alsoprovide DSP configuration information (e.g., space-time processinginformation, modulation information, coding information) and/or RFconfiguration information to adjust the beam patterns generate by theGPE/CPE unit.

The present invention can also include a second GPE/CPE unit remote fromthe first GPE/CPE unit. The first GPE/CPE unit can be operable toestablish a wireless communication link with the second GPE/CPE unit,such as a multi-input/multi-output (“MIMO”) communication link. Thenetwork fuser can be operable to configure the first GPE/CPE unit toestablish the wireless communication by, for example, providingappropriate DSP configuration information (e.g., space-time algorithm,modulation and coding) and RF configuration information. Configurationof the first GPE/CPE unit can be based, for example, on instantaneouschannel data (e.g., the mean, variance, delay spread, power-delayprofile, Doppler, spatial covariance, correlation, and space-timecorrelation and other instantaneous channel data) received from thefirst GPE/CPE unit or the second GPE/CPE unit. In order to gathervarious pieces of information about a particular channel, the networkfuser can instruct the first GPE/CPE unit or second GPE/CPE unit toprobe a channel.

The network fuser, according to one embodiment of the present inventioncan provision bandwidth to the communication link established betweenGPE/CPE units. This can be done, for example, by providing the GPE/CPEunit with appropriate DSP and RF configuration information for thedesired bandwidth. Additionally, the network fuser can provide accesscontrols based, for example, on authentication before allowing data tobe transferred to or communicated from a data network via the wirelesslink between GPE/CPE units.

Additional GPE/CPE units can be connected to the network fuser via thecontrol data transport medium. In this case, the network fuser can beoperable to configure the multiple GPE/CPE units. The network fuser canreceive data from a data network and provision the data to the multipleGPE/CPE units for communication to one or more remote GPE/CPE units viaa wireless communication link. The network fuser can ensure that the PEsto which it can communicate configuration information work together toprovide communications links that do not interfere or have minimalinterference.

Embodiments of the present invention can include an RF backplane thatincludes a plurality of antenna connections, connection circuitry and aplurality of RF connections connected to the antennas connections viathe connection connections. The RF backplane can include control logicthat is operable to configure the RF backplane to connect the RFconnections to the antenna connections via the connection circuitry in avariety of configurations. The control logic can be responsive tocontrol signals received from, for example, a network fuser to changethe configuration of the backplane. The RF backplane also includeconnection sensing circuitry to determine when RF circuitry, such as anRF circuitry of a RAD, has been connected to the RF connection.

Another embodiment of the present invention can include a device thatprovides RF and digital signal processing capabilities. The device canbe modular and be connected to other similar devices. The device cancomprise an RF backplane interface to connect to an RF backplane, a DSPunit and RF circuitry. The DSP unit can be operable to generate atransmit digital signal. The RF circuitry can be operable to generate anoutput signal based on the transmit signal; and generate the receivesignal based on an input signal.

The DSP unit can generate the transmit signal based on space-timeprocessing, modulation and coding implemented by the DSP unit. The DSPunit can be reconfigured based on DSP configuration information togenerate the transmit signal using various space-time processingalgorithms, modulations and/or encodings. Additionally, the parametersof the RF circuitry can be reconfigured. Thus, the device can supportvarious space-time processing configurations.

The device can include a digital interface to connect to a control datatransport medium. The DSP can receive DSP configuration information fromcontrol logic via the digital interface. The DSP control logic can belocated at, for example, a network fuser, a RAD unit or other device.The device of one embodiment of the present invention can be operable tofunction in a master or slave configuration.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the device can bea RAD unit that is modular in design. The RAD can have a form factorsuch that it can be connected to and removed from a GPE/CPE unitrelatively easily. Therefore, RAD units can be added to or removed froma GPE/CPE unit easily to provide additional functionality.

Another embodiment of the present invention can include a system forwireless communication comprising a first RAD unit, a second RAD unit, aplurality of antennas, an RF backplane connecting the plurality ofantennas to the first RAD unit and the second RAD unit. The system canalso include a network fuser connected to the first RAD unit and thesecond RAD unit and the RF backplane via, for example, a control datatransport medium. The network fuser can be operable to provide DSPconfiguration information to the first RAD unit and the second RAD unit,provide RF configuration information to the first RAD and the secondRAD; and provide control signals to the RE backplane to configure the RFbackplane to connect the plurality of antennas to the first RAD unit andthe second RAD unit.

The network fuser can configure the RAD units to establish MIMOcommunications links according to various configurations. Thecommunications links can be configured based, for example, oninstantaneous channel data. To gather channel data, the network fusercan instruct the RAD units to probe one or more communications channels.The network fuser can reconfigure the RAD units in real time based, forexample, on activity of the data network, the communications link orother information. Additionally, the network fuser can provisionbandwidth to the communications established by the RAD units and canprovide access control.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the network fusercan determine that a new RAD unit has been added. This can be done, forexample, based on information received from the RF backplane circuitryor from the new RAD unit. The network fuser via the control datatransport medium can determine the functionality of the new RAD unit(e.g., how many antennas the RAD unit has, the number of sets of RFcircuitry, space-time algorithms supported or other information that canbe used in configuration of the RAD unit). This information can beprovided by, for example, the DSP unit of the new RAD unit. Based oninformation received from the new RAD unit, the network fuser canreconfigure the existing RAD units and configure the new RAD unit.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an advantage over prior artsystems and method of wireless communication by providing a configurableantenna mesh to which additional antennas and RF circuitry can be added.

Embodiments of the present invention provide another advantage providingmultiple, modular, units that can work together to support variousspace-time processing. The units can be controlled by a centralizedcontroller (e.g., a network fuser). Because configuration ofcommunications links can be centralized, additional units for supportingadditional communications links can be easily added.

Embodiments of the present invention provide another advantage byproviding a mechanism for controlling multiple units to ensure they worktogether to provide instantaneous bandwidth provisioning and coverage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

A more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a wireless communicationsystem according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of an embodiment ofmulti-input/multi-output communications system;

FIG. 3A is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of anadaptive antenna and FIG. 3B is a diagrammatic representation of anembodiment of a multi-input/multi-output communications system usingadaptive antennas;

FIG. 4A is a diagrammatic representation one embodiment of a GPE/CPEunit and FIG. 4B is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of aradio frequency (“RF”) backplane that can be employed by a GPE/CPE unit;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of an RF anddigital signal processing (“DSP”) unit (“RAD unit”);

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of another embodiment of a RADunit;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of multipleRAD units in a master-slave configuration; and

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a system inwhich multiple RAD units are connected to a network fuser.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a flexible architecture forprovisioning of data via a wireless communications link.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a communications network 100 forproviding a wireless high-speed communications link. FIG. 1 depictsprovisioning of wireless access to end-users (i.e., “last mile”provisioning). The system 100 comprises a gateway 102, several sets ofcustomer premises equipment (“CPE”) (CPE 104, CPE 106, CPE 108) and adata transport network 110 (e.g., Ethernet, the Internet, a wirelessnetwork or any data network known in the art). It should be noted thatthe term “customer premises equipment” is simply used to refer toequipment that can wirelessly communicate with gateway 102. According toone embodiment of the present invention, network 110 can be a high-speednetwork 110. Gateway 102 can include gateway premises equipment (“GPE”)112, 114 and 116, network fuser 118, and a connection 119 to datatransport network 110. According to other embodiments of the presentinvention network fuser 118 can be part of a GPE.

Each location at which high speed network access is desired (residence,office building, or other location) can be equipped with a CPE.According to one embodiment of the present invention a CPE can be anintegrated device that can contain any number of antennas andtransceivers. Additionally, each CPE can include signal processinglogic. According to other embodiments of the present invention, thefunctionality of a CPE can be distributed. An exemplarily architecturefor a CPE is discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 4-6.

Gateway 102 interfaces between data transport network 110 and thewireless link(s) (e.g., link 120, link 122 and link 124). In oneembodiment Gateway 102 includes GPEs 112, 114 and 116, network fuser118, and a connection(s) 116 to data transport network 110. Gateway 102can act as an aggregation point for various connections (e.g.,T1/T3/OC3/OC12 and others) to network 110.

Each CPE (e.g., CPE 104, CPE 106 and CPE 108) connects via a wirelesscommunication link (represented by link 120, link 122 and link 124) to aGPE. Each GPE 112, 114 and 116 can be a complement to the respective CPEand can facilitate the communication link between gateway 102 and thecorresponding CPE. A CPE can contain a number of antennas, transceivers,and advanced signal processing technology. Generally it can comprise ofone or more RAD units, described in greater detail below. It may beinstalled outside, on the wall, or roof, or may be installed indoors.For outdoor installations it will generally be waterproof.

Each CPE can employ the flexible RF backplane, as well as RAD units forprocessing. In one embodiment, software is used that supports multi-modemulti-band communication. A software program can be used to activatecertain subsets of antennas according to the frequency and bandwidth ofthe signal being transmitted or received. This configuration may be doneonce when the unit is installed or it may be performed in real-time overthe course of the second/minute/hour/day. The software that performsthis configuration may reside in the CPE or may reside in the otherfunctional units to be described (such as the network fuser or anotherCPE).

It should be noted that any number of outputs from the CPE are possibleincluding telephone, Ethernet (10/100/1 G/10 G bps), analog audio,digital audio, digital video, and internet traffic among others. In oneembodiment, the GPE (described below) manages the functions of the CPE.Additionally, a billing and service center may adjust the functionalityof the CPE according to the service plan as subscribed to by the user.Alternatively, the CPE may control its own functions or may becontrolled via a local network or a network fuser connected to the CPE.For example CPE 112 can be controlled by a computer on a home network orcan be controlled by a network fuser connected to CPE 112.

The GPE is the complement to the CPE. The GPE facilitates a MIMOcommunication link constructed between the gateway and the customerpremises. In one embodiment, a GPE is installed at the gateway for eachCPE that needs to be supported. For each additional CPE that is added,an additional GPE is installed at gateway 102 to support that CPE.Gateway 102 may automatically configure itself as a function of thenumber of GPEs installed or it may require manual configuration. A GPEcan employ the same architecture as a CPE or may be different.Generally, each GPE (e.g., GPE 112, 114 and 116) can comprise aplurality of RAD units, like the CPE. These RAD units could beconfigured in the same manner as the RAD units of the CPE, but generallywill have a different control structure that takes advantage of theadditional information available via the network fuser 118. This reducescosts since only one type of unit needs to be manufactured. In anotherembodiment the architecture of the GPE can different than the CPE andcan contain more functionality. In this case a GPE may be equipped withmore antennas or less antennas than the CPE. Generally it can bedesigned according to similar requirements such as low cost, waterproof,extendable, cookie cutter design, etc.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a GPE can be installed for each CPE thatneeds to be supported. For each additional CPE that is added (e.g., foreach additional customer) an additional GPE can be added. In analternative embodiment, multiple CPEs may share same GPE. Once again,the GPE may be identical to a CPE or may differ from the CPE to provideadditional functionality. An exemplary architecture for a GPE isdiscussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 4-6.

A communications link between a particular CPE and GPE, such ascommunications link 120 between GPE 112 and CPE 104, can be amulti-input/multi-output (“MIMO”) communications link that relies onmultiple antennas at the GPE, the CPE or both. One example of a MIMOcommunications system is discussed in conjunction with FIG. 2, below. Inone embodiment, the MIMO communication link can exploit beam forming toadaptively adjust the beam patterns of the receive antennas. One exampleof MIMO communication link that can exploit beam forming is discussedbelow in conjunction with FIG. 3. In this embodiment, adaptive antennas,implemented using space-time beam forming, are employed instead of usingfixed antennas. Essentially, in this case, a number of antennas are usedto create an adaptive antenna that has an adjustable beam pattern.Embodiments of the present invention can employ any adaptive antenna andspace-time beam forming mechanisms known in the art.

Multiple-access technique may be employed over the wireless link. Accesstechniques such as TDMA, CDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, MC-CDMA, SDMA, andcombinations thereof may be employed to achieve this goal. In oneembodiment, TDMA is combined with SDMA to allow the channel to beshared. In this case, users are separated by both their spatialsignatures, through space-time processing, as well as by differenttime-slot assignments. Spatially separate users may be allowed to sharea given time-slot through the use of SDMA while spatially adjacent userswill be assigned different time-slots.

In operation, multiple MIMO links (e.g., communication link 120,communication link 122 and communications link 124), as illustrated inFIG. 1, are allowed to coexist. Network fuser 118 (through use ofhardware, software and/or firmware) coordinates the transmissions of thevarious GPEs (e.g., GPE 112, GPE 114 and GPE 116). Network fuser 118 canmake decisions about space/time/frequency allocation that may be static(e.g., done only on install or infrequently) or may be dynamic. In oneembodiment, all resources are allocated dynamically. The spatial elementcan be used in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1. In this case,network fuser 118 controls the beam widths of the MIMO arrays to reduceco-channel interference. The weights for the space-time beam formers maybe determined from channel measurements, channel reciprocity, orprediction for example.

The selection of the space-time beam form can also depend on theoperation of the other MIMO links. For example, if a particular MIMOlink is not operating at the moment, then the beam former does not needto reduce interference to this link (e.g., if link 124 is not operating,network fuser 118 does not have to consider link 124 when reducinginterference to the other links).

Adaptive power control and adaptive modulation can be used to minimizeinterference and maximize data rate depending on the needs of the givenuser. CPEs that are located close to the access point might takeadvantage of higher data rates using space-time adaptive modulationwhile those further away might take advantage of the diversity to reducefading and outages.

Thus, embodiments of the present invention can include a system forestablishing a wireless communications link that includes a gatewayhaving a network fuser and one or more GPE units. Each GPE can establisha wireless communication link with a corresponding CPE unit remote fromthe gateway. The network fuser can be operable to adaptively control theGPE units to configure the communications links. More particularly, thenetwork fuser can adaptively configure the GPEs to configure MIMOcommunications links, perform network provisioning, flow control andcontrol usage of an attached network (e.g., network 110). The MIMOcommunications links can be dynamical configured under control of thenetwork fuser to provide high-data rate, extended range, powerefficiency and interference control.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a MIMOcommunication system 200. Transmitter 202 is equipped with M.sub.tantennas 204.sub.a-t while receiver 206 is equipped with M.sub.rantennas 208.sub.a-r. Because there are essentially M.sub.t*M.sub.rpaths between transmitter 202 and receiver 206, the likelihood that achannel will be dropped is decreased compared to a single path system.Space-time transmit processing module 205 is used to map a sequence ofbits to space-time code words for transmission. Receiver 206 may havefewer or more antennas than the transmitter 202. In one embodiment,space-time processing module 207 is used at receiver 206 to decouple thetransmitted signal streams and to detect the transmitted bit stream.

FIG. 3A is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of anadaptive array 300. Adaptive array 300 can include multiple antennae302.sub.a-d. The difference between the system of FIG. 2 and array 300of FIG. 3 is that array 300, rather than a single antennae, is used atthe transmitter or receiver to establish the communications link. Inother words, antennas 302.sub.a-d can act as a single adaptive antennathat has an adjustable beam pattern. The pattern can be adjusted basedon any number of algorithms known to those skilled in the art tomaximize received signal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-interference ratio,signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, or to minimize interference.The transmit beam may be derived using reciprocity relationships fromthe optimal receive beam pattern or may be inferred from controlinformation. The patterns may be a function of the number of activeusers and may in part be determined by user traffic as well as thescheduling algorithms. Interference may include other transmissions fromthe same CPE or GPE or transmission from a different CPE or GPE. Thepatterns may be adjusted dynamically or may be configured once and thenfixed.

FIG. 3B is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a system350 that employs multiple antenna arrays, such as that shown in FIG. 3,for transmitting and receiving data. Transmitter 352 (e.g., a CPE orGPE) can include space-time transmit processing 354 to map a sequence ofbits to space-time code words for transmission. Space-time beam forming356 can then configure an adaptive antenna (e.g., antenna array 358),for spatially shaping the transmitted signal. At receiver 362 (e.g., aCPE or GPE), adaptive antenna 364 (e.g., antenna array 364), can receivethe transmission beam. Space-time beam forming 366 can compensate forthe beam pattern and space-time receive processing 368 can decouple thetransmitted signal streams and detect the transmitted bit stream. Itshould be noted that either a fixed antenna system, as described inconjunction with FIG. 2, or adaptive antenna array system, as describedin conjunction with FIGS. 3A and 3B, can be used by the CPEs and GPEs.

FIG. 4A is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a device,including gateway or customer premises equipment unit (“GPE/CPE unit”)400, such as a GPE or CPE. It should be noted that since the CPE and GPEcan have an identical or similar architecture, the embodiments of FIGS.4-7 are equally applicable to both. However, it should also be notedthat the CPE and GPE may differ. GPE/CPE unit 400 can include a housing402. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the housing402 can have a form factor of approximately the size of clock radio,cable modem, personal computer, home entertainment center or otherarbitrary design. Housing 402 can include a number of expansion slots404.sub.a-c to allow the addition of RAD units. Although only threeslots are shown, GPE/CPE unit 400 can support an arbitrary number of RADunits. GPE/CPE unit 400 can include any number of prefabricated antennas406.sub.a-d. The antennas may be embedded in the skin of housing 402 orbuilt on circuit boards contained in housing 402, protrude from housing402 or be otherwise configured. Example antennas include patch antennas,dipole antennas and etched antennas. Uniformly or nonuniformly spacedarrays of antennas may be employed as well as various combinations ofpatterns and polarizations including linear and circular, planer orthree dimensional. GPE/CPE unit 400 can also include interfaces foradditional antennas, ports for communicating and receiving data andother features.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, RADs can beconnected to the antennas via a RF backplane. FIG. 4B illustrates oneembodiment of connecting antennas 406.sub.a-n to one or more RADs via anRF backplane 408. RF backplane 408 allows a user to plug in additionalRAD cards without worrying about details such as impedance matching,control or phasing issues. RF backplane 408 provides “works-in-a-drawer”capability where one or more RAD cards may simply be inserted intoGPE/CPE unit 400 and the RF backplane 408 uses RF sensing, RF phasing,make-or-break detection (e.g., DC or low frequency) and RF combining toconnected the RAD cards with the existing antenna structure. RFbackplane 408 provides connectivity between the RF portion of a RAD,discussed below, and antennas already connected to backplane 408 (i.e.,prefab antennas, antennas on other RADs, antennas added to backplane 408or other antennas).

It should be noted that the antennas 406.sub.a-d may be used for bothtransmission and reception or may be shared by transmit and receive RFchanges. Some antennas may be used for transmission, some for receptionand some for both. The antennas can operate according to one or morefrequency bands.

RF backplane 408 can include antenna connections 410.sub.a-d connectedto antennas 406.sub.a-d, which can include any antenna connectionmechanism known in the art. Antenna connections 410 allow signals totravel from the antennas to backplane circuitry 412. RF backplane 408can also include one or more RF connections 414.sub.a-c to interfacewith a receiver, transmitter transceiver or other radio circuitry (i.e.,RF circuitry). According to one embodiment, the RF circuitry can beimplemented in an RF circuitry on a RAD card, as will described below.Thus, RF connections 414.sub.a-c can be RAD connectors 414.sub.a-c.Since the example embodiment of FIG. 4A only includes three expansionslots, RF backplane 408 can include three RAD connectors. However, agreater or smaller number of RAD connectors can be used. Connectionbetween a RAD and RF backplane 308 can be achieved through contacts,easy-plug connectors, spring loaded contacts or other mechanism forconnecting circuit components known in the art. According to oneembodiment of the present invention, the RAD connectors 414 can beformed of a highly conductive, high strength material. According toanother embodiment of the present invention, RAD connectors 414 can beformed of a highly conductive copper alloy. RAD connectors 414 can begold plated.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, backplane logicand circuitry 412 that can include connection sensing circuitry 416,control logic 418 and connection circuitry 420. Connection sensingcircuitry 416 can sense when a RAD unit is connected to a particular RADconnector 414. For example, connection sensing circuitry 416 can detectwhen a RAD unit is connected to RAD connector 414.sub.a. This can bedone, for example, through detecting a change in impedance, voltage orcurrent on connection 414.sub.a. According to another embodiment of thepresent invention, each RAD, when connected, can emit a low frequencysignal or other arbitrarily defined signal. Connection sensing circuitry416 can include logic to detect the low frequency signal on a connection(e.g., connection 414.sub.a) to determine that a RAD has been connectedto that connection. The signal asserted by the RAD to indicate itspresence can be configured so that the signal has no or negligibleimpact on other signals passing between RF backplane 408 and the RAD(e.g., signals received from antennas, control signals or othersignals). Connection sensing circuitry 416 can employ any mechanismknown in the art for sensing the connection with thetransmitter/receiver or transceiver (i.e., the RF unit on the RAD,discussed below) or other connection sensing circuitry known in the art.

Once an active connection is identified (e.g., when it is determinedthat a RAD is connected via connection 414.sub.a), control logic 418 canconfigure RF backplane 408 to connect one or more circuits, such as RFcombining circuitry 422, coupling circuitry 424, phasing circuitry 426,and impedance matching circuitry 428 to the active connection(s) (e.g.,the connections to which a RAD is connected). Essentially, control logic420 controls how connection circuitry 420 is connected between an activeantenna and active RAD connections. Connection circuitry 420 essentiallybuilds a bridge between the active RAD connection 414.sub.a-c and theactive antenna connections 410.sub.a-d. In other words a series ofcircuits for RF combining, coupling, phasing and impedance matching andother signal processing functions can be connected to the activeconnection 414.sub.a and one or more of the antenna connections 410.Backplane circuitry 412 may also provide power leveling to ensure knownor calibrated power levels are delivered to each antenna.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, connectioncircuitry 420 can connect active RAD connections to active antennaconnections according to connections established by control logic 418.Control logic 418 can be implemented as a low-level controller or simplelogic. Control logic 418 can change the configuration backplane 408(i.e., can change how the antenna connections are connected to the RADconnections via the connection circuitry) based on, for example, signalsreceived via control interface 419 from the network fuser, GPE, CPE, aRAD or other device. Control logic 418 can also be implemented as acontroller executing software instructions stored on a computer readablememory (RAM, ROM, Flash Memory, EEROM, optical or magnetic medium orother computer readable memory) or according to other control logicarchitectures known in the art. Thus, the control processing fordetermining the configuration of backplane 408 can be performed bycontrol logic 418 or can be performed by other logic (e.g., by thenetwork fuser). Control logic 418 and connection circuitry 420 can beimplemented as a single controller, as one or more discrete componentsor according to any circuitry architecture known in the art. It shouldbe noted that just as additional RADs can be connected to the backplane,additional antennas can be added. Backplane circuitry 412 can sense thenewly connected antennas and reconfigure the backplane to connect thenew antennas to new or existing RADs. Moreover, backplane circuitry 412can notify other devices (e.g., the network fuser) of the addition ofRAD units of antennas.

Backplane circuitry 412 can include, according to various embodiments ofthe present invention, a series of PIN diodes spaced along an RFmicrostrip or stripline network and may be implemented using lumpedcomponents and/or distributed components, as would be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art. For example, proper connectionsbetween a RAD connection 414 and an antenna, say connection 414.sub.aand antenna 406.sub.b, may be achieved through use of pin-diodeimpedance matching circuitry, with one or more butler matrices, one ormore Wilkinson combiners, filters (e.g., cavity resonators or otherfilters), SAW filters, phase shifters, amplifiers, attenuators,resistors, or other techniques known in the art for establishing aconnection between an antenna and RF circuitry (e.g., RF circuitry onthe RAD or other RF logic). The various circuits for connecting theantenna to the active RF connector 414 can be implemented as a lumpedcircuit or a may distributed among multiple chips and circuitcomponents. RF backplane 408 can be configured based on processing bybackplane circuitry 412 or based on processing occurring at othercomponents, such as additional logic at the CPE, logic at the GPE, logicat the network fuser or other processing.

The RF backplane architecture of embodiments of the present inventionallows an unskilled user to simply plug in the RAD cards (or other cardproviding RF circuitry). The proper phasing, connectivity, and antennatopology for the specific needs of the individual user, or for theoverall performance of the network at large can be determined andbackplane circuitry 412 can be configured accordingly. The needs may becontrolled differently at a GPE versus a CPE. For example, the GPE maybe concerned more about fair resource allocation and network throughputwhile the CPE may control to ensure maximum energy capture.

According to one embodiment, a network fuser can provide theconfiguration logic to adjust the backplane circuitry to change theantenna topology and connection. The network fuser can communicatecontrol signals to control logic 418 to change connections of backplanecircuitry 412. This can be done in a real-time or near-real-time mannerdepending on conditions in the communications network such as levels ofinterference, coverage, bandwidth requirements of different users,queuing availability, queue sizes of one or more users, etc. Theconfiguration may be dynamically changed “on-the-fly” and might differin the uplink or downlink cases. As an example, in an FDD system theconfiguration might change on uplink or downlink while in a TDD systemthe configuration might stay the same due to reciprocity.

Backplane circuitry 412 can be configured to connect antennas to RADs ina variety of configurations including, but not limited to, beam forming,phased array, diversity combining, maximum ratio combining, antennaswitching, as well as sophisticated MIMO processing configurationsincluding antenna subset selection, transmit preceding, andeigenbeamforming among other techniques known to those skilled in theart. Through suitable choice of mode, the connected RADs can exploit oneor all of the available antennas. The number of antennas, the power ofeach antenna and other factors provided by the backplane circuitry 412to a particular RAD unit can be configured by the network fuser. In thecase of the GPE this might be a global control while for the CPE thismight be a local control. The logic for the choice of a mode ofoperation can be implemented at the network fuser, described below. Thenetwork fuser can communicate with control logic 418 to connect activeantenna connections to the active RAD connection via connectioncircuitry 420.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of RAD unitdevice 500. A RAD unit can be a modular unit that includes RF circuitry,analog to digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion and digitalsignal processing. RAD unit 500 can include a backplane interface 502 tointerface an RF circuitry 504 (e.g., a receiver, a transmitter, and/or atransceiver and associated logic) with an RF backplane (e.g., RFbackplane 408 of FIG. 4). RF circuitry 504 can convert received areceived signal (e.g., received from an antenna via the RF backplane) toa lower RF, IF or baseband frequency and/or convert lower RF, IF or abaseband frequency to an output signal to be applied to an antenna via,for example, the RF backplane. RF circuitry 504 can include by way ofexample, but not limitation, frequency synthesizers, mixers, filters,amplifiers, attenuators, gain controls, level setting capabilities andother functionality known in the art. RF circuitry 504 can includedigital frequency synthesis, phased locked loop controller or otherprogrammable capabilities. RF circuitry 504 can thus include digitallogic, hardwired circuitry and/or any circuitry needed or desired toconvert a signal received from DSP unit 510, discussed below, to anoutput signal for transmission via the antenna and convert an inputsignal received from the RF backplane (or embedded antenna) into areceive signal.

Each set of RF circuitry, such as RF circuitry 504, can be connected toone or more analog-to-digital (A/D) converters (e.g., A/D converter 506)and one or more digital to analog converters (e.g., D/A converter 508).A/D converter 506 can receive an analog signal generated by RF circuitry504 (a baseband receive analog signal) and convert it to a receivesignal (e.g., a baseband IF or other signal). D/A converter 508 canreceive a transmit signal and can convert it to an analog signal. Theanalog transmit signal can be sent to RF circuitry 504 for conversion toan output signal. The output signal can be passed to the RF backplanefor transmission via an antenna. Thus, the RF circuitry can generate anoutput signal based on the transmit signal generated by the DSP unit.

RAD 500 can include one or more digital signal processing units (e.g.,DSP unit 510) that can be connected to one or more sets of RF circuitryvia D/A and/or A/D converters. DSP unit 510 can include a processor(e.g., processor 511) that can be a dedicated DSP, a microcontroller,ARM, CPU, programmable logic, such as FPGA, or fixed logic, such asASIC. Combinations of fixed logic and processing are also possible bothon a single chip and in configuration where multiple chips implement theprocessing on a single board. DSP unit 510 can, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, includes a computer readable medium512 (e.g., RAM, ROM, magnetic storage, Flash memory or other computerreadable medium known in the art) connected to a processor 511. Computerreadable medium 512 can include computer instructions 514 executable byprocessor 511 to convert data into a transmit signal and convert areceive signal into data. Thus, the DSP unit can generate a transmitsignal based on data received from, for example, a network fuser and cangenerate data based on the receive signal generated by the RF circuitry.The computer instructions can be executed to perform various algorithmssuch as space-time processing algorithms and other algorithms. Thecomputer instructions 514 can be further executable to send DSP controlsignals to other RAD units, process control signal and perform otherfunctionality. DSP unit 510 can take inputs from all sets of RFcircuitry or particular processors may be dedicated to a particular RFcircuitry.

RAD unit 500 can include a digital interface 520 for exchanginginformation with one or more additional RAD units, RF control logic 524,DSP control logic 526 via a control network, line or other datatransport medium. RAD unit 500 can also include a network interface 528for communicating data received on or to be transmitted via a wirelesscommunication link (e.g., link 124 of FIG. 1). Digital interface 520 maybe wired or wireless. It is implemented using rapid I/O, hypertransport, gigabit Ethernet, Ethernet, SCSI, UWB, firewire, USB, hyperlink, or bluetooth. Digital interface 520 may permit a point-to-pointconnection of one RAD unit to another or from one RAD unit to all otherRAD units at the same time as the case with a network of RAD units.Digital interface 520 can provide connection to the various sets of RFcircuitry of the RAD and the DSP units of the RAD. RF control logic 524can be used to control RF circuitry 504 (and other sets of RF circuitryif present). RF control logic 524 can provide RF configurationinformation to control factors such as the gain, phase, attenuation,oscillator, or RF frequency, the subset of antennas from which toreceive signals if a single set of RF circuitry is connected to multipleantennas, the weights of the antenna combining including phased or moresophisticated weighting methods, whether to power on or power off the RFcircuitry. An RF control signal from RF control logic 524 may come froman external controller, from another RAD unit, a network fuser or otherdevice.

DSP control logic 526 can provide DSP configuration information tocontrol the parameters of the DSP unit 510, including, for example, thetype of space-time processing that should be employed by the DSP. DSPcontrol logic 526 can also adjust physical layer parameters such as thebandwidths of the filters; it might provide synchronization informationso the DSP knows when to start processing the signal. DSP control logic526 may be bidirectional in that DSP unit 510 can send and receivecontrol information to and from the DSP units of other RADs.

Network interface 528 is used to connect the RAD to a network. Networkinterface 528 may be Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, wireless LAN, tokenring interface or other interface. Network interface 528 may be used todeliver data to/from a data network. Using a separate network interface528 and digital interface 520, allows a dedicated interface 520 forconnection to other RAD units and external devices for the purpose offacilitating more sophisticated processing. According to otherembodiments of the present invention, DSP unit and RF circuitry can becommunicated with via network interface 528 rather than a dedicatedinterface. In this case, the control data transport medium and datanetwork can be the same network.

RAD unit 500 can support space-time processing and, more generally, MIMOcommunication through the use of multiple RF transceivers at RFcircuitry 504. MIMO communication systems generally offer the followingbenefits relative to single antenna systems: (i) Substantial capacityimprovements. It has been shown that MIMO systems can increase the datarate that can be supported on a communication link in proportion to theminimum of the number of transmit and number of receive antennas. Thisis with the same amount of bandwidth and the same total power. (ii)Substantial quality improvement. MIMO systems also offer the ability tosignificantly improvement due to an increase in diversity. Essentially,with MIMO communication, there are at least M.sub.t*M.sub.r possiblepaths between transmitter and receiver, Thus, the probability that thecommunication channel is in a fade decreases with the product. Thisquality reduces the number of retransmissions and improves the perceivedquality of the link making it look more like a wireline communicationsystem. (iii) Superior performance in non-line-of-sight propagation.MIMO communication systems take advantage of scattering in the channel,therefore they work well when there is not a direct path between thetransmitter and the receiver. RAD 500 can employ MIMO processing toobtain all of the benefits of MIMO communication as described above.

In one embodiment, RAD 500 can exploit beam forming to adaptively adjustthe beam patterns of receive antennas. Essentially the plurality ofantennas are used to create an adaptive antenna that has an adjustablebeam pattern. The pattern can be adjusted based on any number ofalgorithms known to those skilled in the art to maximize receivedsignal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-interference ratio,signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio, or to minimize interference.The transmit beam may be derived using reciprocity relationships fromthe optimal receive beam pattern or may be inferred from controlinformation. The patterns may be a function of the number of activeusers and may in part be determined by user traffic as well as thescheduling algorithms. The patterns may be adjusted dynamically or maybe configured once and then fixed. RAD 500 may be informed about trafficand interference information through network interface 528 or throughother control lines.

In another embodiment, RAD 500 uses MIMO communication links thatexploit more advanced strategies such as spatial multiplexing andtransmit diversity to provide additional capacity and reliability in thecommunication link. With spatial multiplexing, for example, the RADsends independent data streams from each of its sets of RF circuitry inthe transmit direction. In the receive direction, the RAD unit processesthe received data to extract the multiple transmitted data streams. Withspace-time coding, RAD unit 500 transmits space-time code words for thepurpose of extracting diversity from the channel. On the receive side,RAD 500 unit processes the received data to determine which space-timecode words were transmitted. RAD unit 500 may make use of other MIMOtechniques such as linear dispersion codes, space-time beam forming,interference cancellation, and other algorithms known to those in thestate-of-the-art.

It should be noted that RAD Unit 500 has been discussed in terms ofusing antennas connected via RF backplane 408. However, RAD Unit 500 mayinclude embedded antennas. FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a RADunit 600 that includes embedded antennas 602.sub.a-b. In this case, RADUnit 600 may not have a connection for the RF backplane and may not beequipped with the RF or connection sensing capability. According toother embodiments of the present invention, RAD unit 600 can includeconnections to the RF Backplane. RAD unit 600, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, can interface with the RF backplanecontrol logic (e.g., backplane control logic 418 of FIG. 4) to informthe RF backplane antennas connected to the RF backplane are not needed.RAD units with and without embedded antennas can coexist within the sameCPE/GPE. The embedded antennas RAD unit 600 can also become part of theantennas considered in the RF backplane described previously and thusmay be controlled in the same manner as if they were part of the RFantenna backplane. The antennas, if located in RAD unit 600, can beembedded within the outer skin RAD unit 600 or be built on circuitboards or casings such as patch antennas, or be etched on microstripscoupled to RAD unit 600 or be placed on the perimeter of RAD unit 600.According to one embodiment, integrated dual polarized patch antennasare used. Uniformly or nonuniformly spaced arrays of antennas may beemployed as well as various combinations of pattern and polarizationsincluding linear and circular, planar or 3D.

It should be understood that one RAD unit may also have multipleantennas or multiple connections to the RF backplane yet have a singleset of RF circuitry to convert to/from the baseband digital signal. Inother words, a single set of RF circuitry may receive signals frommultiple antennas, but only output a single signal to DSP the unit. Inthis case the set of RF circuitry might incorporate an RF switch orcombiner for the purpose of combining the signals from the plurality ofantennas. Additional control logic, which forms an additional input tothe set of RF circuitry, might be employed to determine the appropriateselection or combining weights. A set of RF circuitry may also makeindependent decisions itself using its own control logic. Filtering canbe part of the RF circuitry to restrict the bandwidth of the incomingsignals. This filtering may be hardwired, may be cavity resonators, ormay be embedded RF microstrip filters among other choices.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a system750 in which multiple RAD units can be combined together. In theembodiment of FIG. 7, RAD UNIT 700 can be connected to RAD Unit 701 viaa network 702 (e.g., rapid I/O, hyper transport, gigabit Ethernet,Ethernet, SCSI, UWB, firewire, USB, hyper link, or Bluetooth). Forsystem 750 of FIG. 7, each RAD unit 700 and 701 can connect to network702 via a digital interface 704 and 706, respectively. RAD unit 700 andRAD unit 701 can exchange data to facilitate processing through theirhigh-speed link. They may be connected to a common high-speed bus or maybe connected in a serial fashion according to the nature of thehigh-speed link. Control signals, in the form of RF and DSP controlsignals can be exchanged between the RAD units to facilitate thiscombination. The RF control signals allow the sets of RF circuitry ofmultiple RAD units to be coordinated as if they were part of one largerRAD unit. The DSP control allows the DSP units of multiple RAD units tooperate together through the use of parallel processing. Adding more RADunits effectively adds more parallel processing blocks. Because receiverprocessing for MIMO generally requires access to the data from all theantennas, in one embodiment the high-speed connection 702 can be usedfor the purpose of providing each RAD unit with the sampled receiveddata from all the other RAD units. Equivalently, all the RAD units canbe provided with the same transmit data to facilitate generation of thetransmit space-time waveform.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, connected RADunits can be in a master-slave configuration, in which a master RAD unitsends control signals to the slave RAD units for the purpose ofconfiguring and controlling their operation. In this case, the masterRAD unit can provide all or a portion of the DSP control logic and RFcontrol logic (e.g., DSP control logic 526 and RF control logic 524 ofFIG. 5) for slave RAD units. For example if RAD 700 is the master RADunit, RAD unit 700 can provide the DSP control logic and RE controllogic for RAD unit 701.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, processing ofreceived signals can be distributed among the RAD units. Each RAD unitcan downsample and preprocess the RF signals from the antennas to whichit is connected (e.g., via the backplane) and share the raw data withadjacent RAD units. The RAD units can then process the data in parallel.In this case, each RAD unit can process a different part of the data inparallel, taking advantage of parallel processing. The master RAD unitcan send control signals to each RAD unit to instruct the RADs on whichportion of the data each RAD unit should process. In the transmitdirection, the master RAD unit takes data from network 604 and splits itamong the other RAD units for processing. The master RAD unit configuresthe RF and DSP processing of the other RAD units based on any number ofparameters including feedback from a gateway, interference estimation,system loads, signal to noise ratios or other parameters.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of another embodiment of asystem 850 employing multiple RAD units. In the system 850 of FIG. 8,the multiple RAD units (e.g., RAD unit 800 and RAD unit 801) can becontrolled by a network fuser 802, which may be part of one of the RADunits or may be separate. System 850 can be implemented, for example, aspart of CPE or GPE unit. Network fuser 802 may be implemented in anynumber of different forms. Network fuser 802, for example, can include anetwork fuser processor 804 (e.g., DSP, FPGA, ASIC or other processorknown in the art) that can execute computer instructions 810 stored on acomputer readable medium 808 (e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash, EEPROM or othercomputer readable medium known in the art). Network fuser 802 caninclude a network interface 811 to connect to a data network 812 and adigital control interface 814 to connect to a control data transportmedium 816. RAD units can be connected to the control network 816 by,for example, a digital interface (e.g., digital interface 520 of FIG.5). Network fuser 802 can further connect to the control logic of RFbackplane 818 via a control data transport medium 816 (e.g., a BUS,network or other data transport medium) or an additional network.

In operation, network fuser 802 can provide RF and DSP configurationinformation (i.e., can act as RF control logic 524 and DSP control logic526 of FIG. 5). The RF configuration information can include informationsuch as the embedded or connected antennas to use, gains of the RFreceivers and settings of oscillators and other RF parameters. The DSPconfiguration information can include, for example, which space-timeprocessing algorithms to employ, the appropriate coding and modulationrates and other processing parameters. Additionally, network fuser 802can signal the control logic of RF backplane 818 to configure the RFbackplane to connect particular antennas to particular RAD units via theconnection circuitry. It can also control the preprocessing performed byeach RAD unit before the exchange of information between RAD units.Network fuser 802 can jointly process all the data from the RAD unit orit might allow the RAD units to process the data in parallel asdescribed before. Generally, network fuser 802 can be equipped with afeedback unit for conveying information to other devices, control logicfor adjusting the various RF parameters, and provisioning logic.

It should be noted that a network fusers, such as network fuser 802, canbe located both at the gateway and at the customer premises. At thecustomer premises, data network 812 can be, for example, a user's homecomputer network, an office Ethernet or other network. At the gateway,data network 812 can be a cellular backhaul network, the Internet orother high-speed network.

Network fuser 802 may be implemented by a standalone dedicatedmicroprocessor or microcontroller which probes or receives instantaneousor averaged or collected information from one or more RAD units or fromone or more CPEs or GPEs. Network fuser 802 may be located within thesame physical container as a CPE or GPE or RAD unit, or it may beremotely located, for example at a central server location, at a networkswitch, or in a different physical piece of equipment. For example, infuture home media entertainment centers where numerous wireless devicesin a home or enterprise may be connected by a central controller, thenetwork fuser 802 may be functionally implemented primarily in thecentral controller, and through wireless or wireline means the networkfuser will be able to communicate with, monitor, aggregate, anddetermine behaviors of one or more of the radio devices. It should beclear that the network fuser may be distributed among one or morecomponents.

By coordinating the activities of various RAD units at multiple GPE/CPEunits, the network fuser can coordinate the activities of GPEs/CPEs.Network fuser 802 can coordinate the activities of CPE/GPEs and performflow control based on measurements including instantaneous user demand,the forward and or reverse link channel state, access history, or stateof the backhaul network. Network fuser 802 may use additionalinformation such as user priority (premium class) or an account balance(number of minutes remaining, money left in the account, bill paid ontime, etc). This information might be derived from data network 812,from the GPEs or CPEs, or directly from the RAD units. The informationmight be derived from statistics collected by the network fuserincluding means, variances, windowed averages, among others or might bebased on instantaneous measures of information such as raw observations.

To make decisions about resource allocation, network fuser 802 can storeinformation as, for example, a logical table, For example, informationmay be indexed based on the user, the network address alias, MACaddress, or flow number. Traffic statistics such as average delay andaverage throughput can be measured trough TCP. Additional user-specificinformation can be included in the table such as the grade-of-service,quality-of-service requirements, and relevant channel statistics such asthe delay spread, average capacity, path-loss, fading rate, etc. Thelogical table can be stored at the network fuser 802 or remote from thenetwork fuser 802.

Of particular relevance to the performance of the overall network is theacquisition of statistics based on the channel state. First of all, thechannel is estimated using methods known to those skilled in the artsuch as training sequences or pilot tones at the receiver as a byproductof demodulation. This information is thus available in the GPE and CPEcommunicated to the network fuser 802.

The process of channel estimation, known as channel-probing, may be doneonline (while the radio is actively receiving data) or off-line for theexpressed purpose of keeping the channel statistics up to date. Forexample, a charmer probing scenario is the following. The network fuser802 would instruct the GPE/CPE (or constituent RAD units) to send aprobe. Each GPE/CPE can, in response, measure the channel and reportthat channel to the gateway. This process would be repeated for allchannels. Additionally, it will be of interest to measure theinterference of one communications link on another. In this case, probescan be sent simultaneously to two different users. CPE or GPE canmeasure the interference created by the other simultaneous transmissionand this information is reported to the GPE. Note that when themeasurements are made by the CPE they can be reported to the GPE througha feedback channel, as is known to those skilled in the art. When themeasurements are performed at the GPE then they can be directly conveyedto the network fuser.

Network fuser 802 can process the instantaneous channel data to derivestatistics based on the channel. For example, statistics such as themean, variance, delay spread, power-delay profile, Doppler, spatialcovariance, correlation, and space-time correlation, which can all bederived from the channel measurements might be useful.

According to various embodiments of the present invention, network fuser802 can in charge of user schedule and bandwidth provisioning. In oneembodiment, the network fuser can determine the user with the largestqueue then ascertain the data rate that can be sent to that user. If thedesired rate exceeds the target capacity then the user will be servedand an attempt will be made to also service additional users. The ideais that if there is excess capacity it should be possible to service aplurality of users. If the target capacity is not achieved then only theuser with the largest queue would be served. This is only an exampleembodiment and it is clear that other approaches to scheduling such asmulti-user diversity, proportional fair scheduling, the exponentialrule, etc. can also be employed.

In one embodiment, network fuser 802 determines which users can accessthe channel at a given time based on the aforementioned data such asinstantaneous channel state information, access history, or status ofthe back haul network. In another embodiment, the network fuser providescontrol signals that adjust adaptive antennas contained in the RAD unitsor that are connected to the RAD units via the RF backplane. Networkfuser 802 can use network-derived information in additional to thephysical layer information to guide the adjustment of the beam patterns.For example, network fuser 802 might change the beam pattern based oninformation about the activity levels of different users. These updatesmay occur rapidly on the order of a fraction of a second or may occurless frequently such as a few times a day or whenever the system isupgraded and new RAD units are added.

Network fuser 802 can also be in charge of resource management andallocation. For example, carrier frequencies may be dynamicallyallocated in a given region. In one embodiment a network fuser canborrow carrier frequencies from other gateways that are currentlyunderutilized. In another embodiment, certain frequencies are owned byother entities and are leased dynamically or statically. In this casethe network fuser determines the physical layer resources that areavailable, arranges to borrow them, then assists in allocating theseresources to the different GPE/CPE pairs on the channel. Network fuser802 can also perform other functionality pertinent to the systemoperation such as subscriber management, including billing, and mayserve as a bridge/router/gateway to the high speed network.

In one embodiment, network fuser 802 can aggregate together RAD units,GPE and/or CPEs to act in harmony as a base transmitter station. Networkfuser 802, by configuring RF backplane 818 and/or the RADs can aggregateand configure multiple antennas to work “correctly” or “optimally”depending on the situation within the smaller network of CPE that isbeing serviced by the GPE (the “last mile” service). In one embodiment,this configuration can be done using a combination of multiple antennasand dynamic antennas. The antennas can be dynamic and connected usingMIMO links. Network fuser 802 can dynamically link the antennas togetherbased on any number of factors, including potentially the currentinterference environment, when a particular user is using their accesspoint, and other factors. Network fuser 802 can look at the high speed(or other basic transmitting) network 810, see the packets coming in,and look at the distribution of packets and configure the RADs.

In one embodiment, network fuser 802 is able to adapt to multiple RADunits (e.g., at one or multiple GPEs) to allow bandwidth provisioningthat is auto sensing (e.g., identifying which users consume more data).In this case, the RAD units can work in concert under the control ofnetwork fuser 802 to focus bandwidth to those users that need additionalbandwidth or need to have particular quality of service rankings orpriorities. This bandwidth provisioning can be based on subscriber data,the service provider requirements or some other algorithms. In addition,network fuser 802 can provide security such as 802.1X or other new kindsof security that are being proposed and standardized for future wirelesssystems so that the security checking. Network fuser 802 can be thesource of registering the prime user for security. Network fuser 802,according to one embodiment, can actually send the data to a radioserver to authenticate and to secure an individual user. Alternatively,there can be hardware or security programmed into the CPE and/or GPEapparatus itself where each user on the network is authenticated andencrypted and verified as valid.

Thus, in one embodiment the network fuser 802 in concert with MIMO linksand RAD units to provide “last mile” wireless transfer of data fromexisting backhaul data networks, such as high speed date networks.Network fuser 802 can control bandwidth provisioning, security, andnetwork management. In another embodiment, network fuser 802 canaggregate traffic statistics and usage statistics and provide thatinformation to service provider's central monitor. A GPE (or multipleGPEs) can provide a base station unit at every “last mile” deliverypoint. Thus, any number of relatively small, cheap MIMO antenna unitsare combined at the GPE and/or CPE, connected to the data deliverynetwork, with the network fuser coordinates their activities.

In an alternative embodiment, additional antennas can be added to theGPEs and CPEs to form a switching fabric or array. Network fuser 802uses the array as a fabric (i.e., there are not dedicated antennas atthe GPE that are dedicated to specific CPE locations) so that regardlessof which CPE data is being sent to the array is configurable to usedifferent antennas to send the data to different CPE. As capacityincrease is needed (e.g., the number of CPE sites being servicesincreases or data requirements increase at existing CPE sites),additional antennas are added to the array at the GPE. The network fusertracks and controls the array. For example, at any point in time some ofthe GPE antennas might be aggregated together to use do a particulardata transfer, but as data transfer requirements within the CPEsub-network that the GPE services change, those same antennas may beconfigured to send data to other CPE sites. Also, as antennas areincreased, network fuser 802 can reconfigure and map GPE antennas to theCPE antennas. Network fuser 802 can configure the GPE throughconfiguration of RF backplane 818 and/or the RADs at the GPE.

In one embodiment, the number of antennas at the GPE is approximatelyequal to the total number of antennas at the CPE sites. In analternative embodiment, the number of antennas at the GPE can be reducedversus the number at the CPE sites using dynamic configuration andprovisioning capabilities of the controlling network fuser 802. The useof MIMO antennas can increase the bandwidth transfer from the backhauldata network. The multiple access feature of the invention with MIMOallows supporting multiple users on a channel. MIMO allows, for 4antenna elements with the processing behind it, providing simultaneousbeams with all 4 antennas carrying 4 users at the same time. Thisflexible GPE/CPE architecture, providing a controlling network fuserwith intelligent provisioning and control capabilities separate from theantenna elements, provides the capability to add new antenna(transmit/receive) elements to a GPE/CPE box automatically. The networkfuser will reconfigure when new antennas are added to increase the datatransfer capability.

Although discussed above in terms of coordinating the activities ofmultiple RAD units, it should be noted that a network fuser cancoordinate the activities of multiple GPE/CPE units as a whole byproviding RF configuration information and DSP configuration informationto the GPE/CPE units. This can be done if the GPE/CPE units employ RADunits or use other architectures for digital signal and RF processing.

Thus, embodiments of the present invention can include a system forwireless communication that can include a fuser connected to a firstGPE/CPE unit (e.g., a CPE or GPE) via a control data transport medium(e.g., SCSI bus, Ethernet, wireless link, optical link, ATM network orother data transport medium known in the art). The network fuser 802through, for example, execution of computer instructions, can beoperable to provide RF configuration information and DSP configurationinformation to the first GPE/CPE unit. The DSP configuration informationcan include an indication of the space-time algorithm that the firstGPE/CPE unit should use, coding to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit,modulation to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit and otherconfiguration information that affects how the GPE/CPE unit processesdata to be transmitted via a wireless communication link or received viathe wireless communication link. The RF configuration information caninclude RF parameters such as gain, phase, attenuation, oscillator, orRF frequency that can be applied in converting RF energy to/from abaseband analog signal. Other RF configuration information can includethe subset of antennas from which to receive signals if signal combiningis to be performed, the weights of the antenna combining includingphased or more sophisticated weighting methods, whether to power on orpower off the RF circuitry or other configuration information that canaffect an RF circuitry.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first GPE/CPEunit can include a plurality of antennas and a plurality of RFcircuitries. The GPE/CPE unit can include an RF backplane that includesRF backplane logic that is operable to connect the RF circuitry to theantennas in a variety of configurations. The RF backplane can have anarbitrary number of connections for antennas and RF circuitries so thatadditional RF circuitries and antennas can be connected to the RFbackplane. The RF backplane can be connected to the control datatransport medium and can receive control signals from the network fuser.The network fuser can be operable to configure the RF backplane toconnect various antennas to RF circuitries according to a configurationdetermined by the network fuser.

The first GPE/CPE unit can also include one or more adaptive antennas.The network fuser 802 can configure the GPE/CPE unit to adjust theadaptive antennas by, for example, providing RF configurationinformation to the GPE/CPE unit or adjusting an RF backplane. Thenetwork fuser 802 can also provide DSP configuration information (e.g.,space-time processing information, modulation information, codinginformation) and/or RF configuration information to adjust the beampatterns generate by the GPE/CPE unit.

The present invention can also include a second GPE/CPE unit remote fromthe first GPE/CPE unit. The first GPE/CPE unit can be operable toestablish a wireless communication link with the first GPE/CPE unit,such as a MIMO communication link. The network fuser 802 can be operableto configure the first PE to establish the wireless communication by,for example, providing appropriate DSP configuration information (e.g.,space-time algorithm, modulation and coding) and RF configurationinformation. Configuration of the first GPE/CPE unit can be based, forexample, on instantaneous channel data (e.g., the mean, variance, delayspread, power-delay profile, Doppler, spatial covariance, correlation,and space-time correlation and other instantaneous channel data)received from the first GPE/CPE unit or the second GPE/CPE unit. Inorder to gather various pieces of information about a particularchannel, the network fuser can instruct the first GPE/CPE unit or secondGPE/CPE unit to probe a channel.

The network fuser 802, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention can provision bandwidth to the communication link establishedbetween the first GPE/CPE unit and second GPE/CPE unit. This can bedone, for example, by providing the GPE/CPE unit with appropriate DSPand RF configuration information for the desired bandwidth.Additionally, the network fuser 802 can provide access controls based,for example, on authentication before allowing data to be transferred toor communicated from a data network via the wireless link betweenGPE/CPE units.

Additional GPE/CPE units can be connected to the network fuser via thecontrol data transport medium. In this case, the network fuser 802 canbe operable to configure the multiple GPE/CPE units. The network fuser802 can receive data from a data network and provision the data to themultiple GPE/CPE units for communication to one or more remote GPE/CPEunits via a wireless communication link. The network fuser 802 canensure that the PEs to which it can communicate configurationinformation work together to provide communications links that do notinterfere or have minimal interference.

Embodiments of the present invention can include an RF backplane thatincludes a plurality of antenna connections, connection circuitry and aplurality of RF connections connected to the antennas connections viathe connection circuitry. The RF backplane can include control logicthat is operable to connect the RF connection to the antenna connectionsin a variety of configurations. The control logic can be responsive tocontrol signals received from, for example, a network fuser to changethe configuration of the backplane. The RF backplane also includeconnection sensing circuitry to determine when RF circuitry, such as RFcircuitry of a RAD unit, has been connected to the RF connection.

Another embodiment of the present invention can include a device thatprovides RF and digital signal processing capabilities. The device canbe modular and be connected to other similar devices. The device cancomprise an RF backplane interface to connect to an RF backplane, suchas that described above or a static RF backplane, a DSP unit, an RFcircuitry and one or A/D and D/A converters between the DSP unit and theRE circuitry. The DSP Unit can generate a baseband transmit digitalsignal and receive a baseband receive digital signal. The RF circuitrycan receive a baseband transmit analog signal and generate transmit RFenergy and, in the opposite direction, receive RF energy and generate abaseband receive analog signal. The A/D and D/A converters can convertbetween the baseband analog and digital signals in each direction.

The DSP unit can generate the baseband transmit digital signal based onspace-time processing, modulation and coding implemented by the DSPunit. The DSP unit can be reconfigured based on DSP configurationinformation to generate the baseband transmit digital signal usingvarious space-time processing algorithms, modulations and/or encodings.Additionally, the parameters of the RF circuitry can be reconfigured.Thus, the device can support various space-time processingconfigurations.

The device can include a digital interface to connect to a control datatransport medium. The DSP can receive DSP configuration information fromcontrol logic via the digital interface. The DSP control logic can belocated at, for example, a network fuser, a RAD or other device. Thedevice of one embodiment of the present invention can be operable tofunction in a master or slave configuration.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the device can bea RAD unit that is modular in design. The RAD unit of this embodimentcan have a form factor such that it can be connected to and removed froma GPE/CPE unit relatively easily. Therefore, the RAD units can be addedto or removed from a PE easily to provide additional functionality.

Another embodiment of the present invention can include a system forwireless communication comprising a first RAD unit, a second RAD unit, aplurality of antennas, an RF backplane connecting the plurality ofantennas to the first RAD unit and the second RAD unit. The system canalso include a network fuser connected to the first RAD unit and thesecond RAD unit and the RF backplane via, for example, a control datatransport medium. The network fuser can be operable to provide DSPconfiguration information to the first RAD unit and the second RAD unit,provide RF configuration information to the first RAD and the second RADunit, and provide control signals to the RF backplane to configure theRF backplane to connect the plurality of antennas to the first RAD unitand the second RAD unit.

Each RAD unit can include a device that provides RF and digital signalprocessing capabilities. The device can be modular and be connected toother similar devices. The device can comprise an RF backplane interfaceto connect to an RF backplane, a DSP unit and RF circuitry. The DSP unitcan be operable to generate a transmit digital signal. The RF circuitrycan be operable to generate an output signal based on the transmitsignal; and generate the receive signal based on an input signal

The DSP unit can generate the transmit signal based on space-timeprocessing, modulation and coding implemented by the DSP unit. The DSPunit can be reconfigured based on DSP configuration information togenerate the transmit signal using various space-time processingalgorithms, modulations and/or encodings. Additionally, the parametersof the RF circuitry can be reconfigured. Thus, the device can supportvarious space-time processing configurations.

The device can include a digital interface to connect to a control datatransport medium. The DSP can receive DSP configuration information fromcontrol logic via the digital interface. The DSP control logic can belocated at, for example, a network fuser, a RAD unit or other device.The device of one embodiment of the present invention can be operable tofunction in a master or slave configuration.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the device can bea RAD unit that is modular in design. The RAD can have a form factorsuch that it can be connected to and removed from a GPE/CPE unitrelatively easily. Therefore, RAD units can be added to or removed froma GPE/CPE unit easily to provide additional functionality.

The RF backplane can include a plurality of antenna connections,connection logic, a plurality of RF connections connected to theplurality of antenna connections via the connection circuitry andcontrol logic operable to configure the backplane to connect theplurality of RF connections via the connection circuitry in a variety ofconfigurations. The control logic can be responsive to control signalsfrom the network fuser to change the configuration of the RF backplane.

The network fuser can provide DSP configuration information that caninclude the space-time algorithm to be applied by the RAD units, thecoding to be applied and the modulation to be applied. The space timealgorithm, coding, modulation and other configuration parameters can bedifferent between the two RAD units.

The network fuser can configure the RAD units to establish MIMOcommunications links according to various configurations. Thecommunications links can be configured based, for example, oninstantaneous channel data. To gather channel data, the network fusercan instruct the RAD units to probe one or more communications channels.The network fuser can reconfigure the RAD units in real based, forexample, on activity of the data network, the communications link orother information. Additionally, the network fuser can provisionbandwidth to the communications established by the RAD units and canprovide access control.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the network fusercan determine that a new RAD unit has been added. This can be done, forexample, based on information received from the RF backplane logic orfrom the new RAD unit. The network fuser via the control data transportmedium can determine the functionality of the new RAD unit (e.g., howmany antennas the RAD has, the amount of RF circuitry, space-timealgorithms supported or other information that can be used inconfiguration of the RAD unit). This information can be provided by, forexample, the DSP unit of the new RAD unit. Based on information receivedfrom the new RAD unit, the network fuser can reconfigure the existingRADs and configure the new RAD unit.

Although the present invention has been described in detail herein withreference to the illustrated embodiments, it should be understood thatthe description is by way of example only and is not to be construed ina limiting sense. It is to be further understood, therefore, thatnumerous changes in the details of the embodiment of this invention andadditional embodiments of this invention will be apparent, and may bemade by, persons of ordinary skill in the art having reference to thisdescription. It is contemplated that all such changes and additionalembodiments are within scope of the invention as claimed below.

1. A system of wireless communication comprising: a network fuserconnected to a control data transport medium; a first gateway/customerpremises equipment (GPE/CPE) unit connected to the network fuser via thecontrol data transport medium; and wherein the network fuser is operableto: receive data from a network; generate radio frequency (“RF”)configuration information for the first GPE/CPE unit; generate digitalsignal processing (“DSP”) configuration information for the firstGPE/CPE unit; provide the radio frequency (“RF”) configuration and thedigital signal processing (“DSP”) configuration information to the firstGPE/CPE unit.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein providing DSPconfiguration information further comprises indicating a space-timealgorithm to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein providing DSP configuration information furthercomprises indicating a coding to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit.4. The system of claim 1, wherein providing DSP configurationinformation further comprises indicating a modulation to be applied bythe first GPE/CPE unit.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPE/CPEunit further comprises: a plurality of antennas; one or more sets of RFcircuitry; and an RF backplane operable to connect the plurality ofantennas to the one or more sets of RF circuitry in a variety ofconfigurations.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the RF backplane isconnected to the control data transport medium.
 7. The system of claim5, wherein the network fuser is operable to configure the RF backplane.8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second GPE/CPE unitremote from the first GPE/CPE unit, operable to establish a wirelesscommunications link with the first GPE/CPE unit.
 9. The system of claim8, wherein the wireless communications link is a MIMO communicationslink.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the network fuser is operableto configure the first GPE/CPE unit to establish the MIMO communicationslink.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the network fuser is furtheroperable to instruct the first GPE/CPE unit to probe a channel.
 12. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the network fuser is further operable toprovision bandwidth to a communication link established between thefirst GPE/CPE unit and a second GPE/CPE unit.
 13. The system of claim 1,wherein the network fuser is further operable to provide accesscontrols.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first GPE/CPE unitfurther comprises one or more adaptive antennas and wherein the networkfuser is further operable to configure the first GPE/CPE unit to adjustthe one or more adaptive antennas.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinthe network fuser can configure the first GPE/CPE unit to adjust beampatterns.
 16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second GPE/CPEunit connected to the network fuser via the control data transportmedium.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the network fuser isoperable to receive data from the network and provision the data to thefirst and second GPE/CPE units for communication to one or more remoteGPE/CPE units via a wireless communication link.
 18. A system ofwireless communication comprising: a network fuser connected to acontrol data transport medium; a first gateway/customer premisesequipment (GPE/CPE) unit connected to the network fuser via the controldata transport medium; and a second GPE/CPE unit remote from the firstGPE/CPE unit, operable to establish a wireless communications link withthe first GPE/CPE unit; wherein the network fuser is operable to:receive data from a network; provide radio frequency (“RF”)configuration information to the first GPE/CPE unit; and provide digitalsignal processing (“DSP”) configuration information to the first GPE/CPEunit; wherein the network fuser is operable to configure the firstGPE/CPE unit to establish the MIMO communications link; wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to configure the first GPE/CPE unit based oninstantaneous channel data received from the first GPE/CPE unit.
 19. Asystem of wireless communication comprising: a network fuser connectedto a control data transport medium; a first gateway/customer premisesequipment (GPE/CPE) unit connected to the network fuser via the controldata transport medium; and a second GPE/CPE unit remote from the firstGPE/CPE unit, operable to establish a wireless communications link withthe first GPE/CPE unit; wherein the network fuser is operable to:receive data from a network; provide radio frequency (“RF”)configuration information to the first GPE/CPE unit; and provide digitalsignal processing (“DSP”) configuration information to the first GPE/CPEunit; wherein the network fuser is operable to configure the firstGPE/CPE unit to establish the MIMO communications link; wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to configure the first GPE/CPE unit based oninstantaneous channel data derived by the second GPE/CPE unit.
 20. Asystem for provisioning broad-band fixed wireless access comprising: agateway, further comprising: a plurality of gateway premises equipment(“GPE”) units; a network fuser connected to the plurality of GPE unitsand is operable to coordinate and schedule the activities of theplurality of the GPE units to act as a base station, wherein the networkfuser is operable to connect to a high-speed network and to provisiondata from the high-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units;a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) units remote from thegateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establish a wireless MIMOcommunications link with at least one corresponding CPE unit towirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser.
 21. The systemof claim 20, wherein the gateway further comprises at least one new GPEto be added to the gateway, wherein the network fuser is operable torecognize the additional GPE and re-provision bandwidth based on theaddition of the new GPE.
 22. The system of claim 20, wherein the networkfuser is located within one of the GPE units.
 23. The system of claim20, wherein the high-speed data network is a backhaul network.
 24. Thesystem of claim 23, wherein the network fuser is further operable toinstruct a CPE unit from the plurality of CPE units to probe a channel.25. The system of claim 24, wherein the CPE unit from the plurality ofCPE units is operable to: probe the channel; return channel measurementsto the network fuser.
 26. The system of claim 20, wherein each of theplurality of GPE units is operable to probe a channel.
 27. The system ofclaim 26, wherein each of the plurality of GPE units is operable toprobe the channel according to training sequences.
 28. The system ofclaim 26, wherein each of the plurality of GPE units is operable toprobe the channel using pilot tones.
 29. The system of claim 26, whereineach of the plurality of GPE units is operable to probe the channeloff-line.
 30. The system of claim 26, wherein each of the plurality ofGPE units is operable to probe the channel on-line.
 31. The system ofclaim 26, wherein each CPE unit is operable to probe a channel accordingto training sequences.
 32. The system of claim 26, wherein each CPE unitis operable to probe using pilot tones.
 33. The system of claim 26,wherein each CPE unit is operable to probe the channel off-line.
 34. Thesystem of claim 26, wherein each CPE unit is operable to probe thechannel online.
 35. The system of claim 20, wherein each CPE unit isoperable to probe a channel.
 36. The system of claim 20, wherein thenetwork fuser is further operable to instruct a GPE unit from theplurality of GPE units to probe a channel.
 37. The system of claim 36,wherein the GPE unit from the plurality of GPE units is operable to:probe the channel; return channel measurements to the network fuser. 38.The system of claim 20, wherein the network fuser is operable toinstruct the plurality of GPE units and CPE units to perform channelprobes.
 39. The system of claim 20, wherein each of the plurality of GPEunits and each of the plurality of CPE units comprises one or more RADunits.
 40. The system of claim 20, wherein the network fuser is furtheroperable to adjust adaptive antennas in each of the plurality of GPEunits.
 41. The system of claim 40, wherein the network fuser is operableto allocate physical layer resources to the plurality of GPE units. 42.The system of claim 20, wherein the network fuser is operable to:analyze packets received over the high-speed network; configure theplurality of GPE units to wirelessly communicate data from the packetsto the plurality of CPE units.
 43. The system of claim 20, wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to provision bandwidth based on usage.
 44. Thesystem of claim 20, wherein the network fuser is operable to provisionbandwidth based on quality of service.
 45. The system of claim 20,wherein the network fuser is operable to provision band width based onservice provider requirements.
 46. The system of claim 20, wherein eachof the plurality of CPE units and each of the plurality of GPE unitshave the same architecture.
 47. The system of claim 20, wherein thewireless MIMO communications link employs TDMA, CDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, orSDMA as an access technique.
 48. A system for provisioning broad-bandfixed wireless access comprising: a gateway, further comprising: aplurality of gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuserconnected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities ofthe plurality of the GPE units to act as a base station, wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to connect to a high-speed network and toprovision data from the high-speed network to each of the plurality ofGPE units; and a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) unitsremote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establisha wireless MIMO communications link with at least one corresponding CPEunit to wirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser;wherein the network fuser is operable to provision bandwidth to aparticular GPE unit based on a forward link state or a reverse linkstate of the wireless communication link between the particular GPE unitand the corresponding CPE unit.
 49. A system for provisioning broad-bandfixed wireless access comprising: a gateway, further comprising: aplurality of gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuserconnected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities ofthe plurality of the GPE units to act as a base station, wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to connect to a high-speed network and toprovision data from the high-speed network to each of the plurality ofGPE units; a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) unitsremote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establisha wireless MIMO communications link with at least one corresponding CPEunit to wirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser;wherein the network fuser is operable to provision bandwidth to aparticular GPE unit based on user information for a user associated withthe corresponding CPE for the particular GPE.
 50. The system of claim49, wherein the user information comprises an access history, a userpriority, an account balance grade-of-service, or quality-of-servicerequirements.
 51. The system of claim 50, wherein the network fuser isoperable to store the user information indexed by a user name, a networkaddress, a MAC address or a flow number.
 52. A system for provisioningbroad-band fixed wireless access comprising: a gateway, furthercomprising: a plurality of gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units; anetwork fuser connected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate theactivities of the plurality of the GPE units to act as a base station,wherein the network fuser is operable to connect to a high-speed networkand to provision data from the high-speed network to each of theplurality of GPE units; and a plurality of customer premises equipment(“CPE”) units remote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unit is operableto establish a wireless MIMO communications link with at least onecorresponding CPE unit to wirelessly transfer data received from thenetwork fuser; wherein the network fuser is further operable toprovision bandwidth to the plurality of GPE units based on a state of abackhaul network.
 53. A system for provisioning broad-band fixedwireless access comprising: a gateway, further comprising: a pluralityof gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuser connectedto the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities of theplurality of the GPE units to act as a base station, wherein the networkfuser is operable to connect to a high-speed network and to provisiondata from the high-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units;and a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) units remote fromthe gateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establish a wirelessMIMO communications link with at least one corresponding CPE unit towirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser; wherein thenetwork fuser is further operable to provision bandwidth based onchannel statistics.
 54. The system of claim 53, wherein the channelstatistics comprise a delay spread, average capacity, path loss orfading rate.
 55. A system for provisioning broad-band fixed wirelessaccess comprising: a gateway, further comprising: a plurality of gatewaypremises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuser connected to theplurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities of the plurality ofthe GPE units to act as a base station, wherein the network fuser isoperable to connect to a high-speed network and to provision data fromthe high-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units; and aplurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) units remote from thegateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establish a wireless MIMOcommunications link with at least one corresponding CPE unit towirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser; wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to instruct the plurality of GPE units and CPEunits to perform channel probes; wherein the network fuser instructsplurality of GPE units and CPE units to perform channel probes todetermine interference caused by simultaneous transmissions.
 56. Asystem for provisioning broad-band fixed wireless access comprising: agateway, further comprising: a plurality of gateway premises equipment(“GPE”) units; a network fuser connected to the plurality of GPE unitsto coordinate the activities of the plurality of the GPE units to act asa base station, wherein the network fuser is operable to connect to ahigh-speed network and to provision data from the high-speed network toeach of the plurality of GPE units; and a plurality of customer premisesequipment (“CPE”) units remote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unitis operable to establish a wireless MIMO communications link with atleast one corresponding CPE unit to wirelessly transfer data receivedfrom the network fuser; wherein the network fuser is operable toinstruct the plurality of GPE units and CPE units to perform channelprobes; wherein the network fuser is further operable to deriveinstantaneous channel statistics based on the channel probes.
 57. Thesystem of claim 56, wherein the instantaneous channel statisticscomprise a mean, a variance, a delay spread, a power-delay profile,Doppler, a special covariance, a correlation, or a space-timecorrelation.
 58. A system for provisioning broad-band fixed wirelessaccess comprising: a gateway, further comprising: a plurality of gatewaypremises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuser connected to theplurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities of the plurality ofthe GPE units to act as a base station, wherein the network fuser isoperable to connect to a high-speed network and to provision data fromthe high-speed network to each of the plurality of GPE units; and aplurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) units remote from thegateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establish a wireless MIMOcommunications link with at least one corresponding CPE unit towirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser; wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to: determine a CPE unit from the plurality ofCPE units that has a largest queue of data to be sent to the CPE unit;determine a maximum data rate that can be used to send data to the CPEwith the largest queue; and if a total capacity exceeds the maximum datarate, provisioning bandwidth to send data to the CPE unit with thelargest queue and using excess capacity to service other CPE units. 59.The system of claim 58, wherein if the total capacity does not exceedthe maximum data rate, provisioning bandwidth to only send data to theCPE with the largest queue.
 60. A system for provisioning broad-bandfixed wireless access comprising: a gateway, further comprising: aplurality of gateway premises equipment (“GPE”) units; a network fuserconnected to the plurality of GPE units to coordinate the activities ofthe plurality of the GPE units to act as a base station, wherein thenetwork fuser is operable to connect to a high-speed network and toprovision data from the high-speed network to each of the plurality ofGPE units; and a plurality of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) unitsremote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unit is operable to establisha wireless MIMO communications link with at least one corresponding CPEunit to wirelessly transfer data received from the network fuser;wherein the network fuser is further operable to adjust adaptiveantennas in each of the plurality of GPE units; wherein the networkfuser is operable to adjust the adaptive antennas based on userinformation comprising an access history, a user priority, an accountbalance grade-of-service, or quality-of-service requirements.
 61. Asystem for provisioning broad-band fixed wireless access comprising: agateway, further comprising: a plurality of gateway premises equipment(“GPE”) units; a network fuser connected to the plurality of GPE unitsto coordinate the activities of the plurality of the GPE units to act asa base station, wherein the network fuser is operable to connect to ahigh-speed network and to provision data from the high-speed network toeach of the plurality of GPE units; and a plurality of customer premisesequipment (“CPE”) units remote from the gateway; wherein each GPE unitis operable to establish a wireless MIMO communications link with atleast one corresponding CPE unit to wirelessly transfer data receivedfrom the network fuser; wherein the network fuser is further operable toadjust adaptive antennas in each of the plurality of GPE units; whereinthe network fuser is further operable to adjust the adaptive antennasbased on channel statistics comprising a delay spread, average capacity,path loss, fading rate, a mean, a variance, a power-delay profile,Doppler, a special covariance, a correlation, or a space-timecorrelation.
 62. A network fuser comprising: a first interface toconnect to a high-speed network; a second interface to connect to acontrol data transport medium for connecting to one or moregateway/customer premises (GPE/CPE) units; a processor; a computerreadable medium accessible by the processor, containing a set ofcomputer instructions, wherein the network fuser is operable to:coordinate and schedule the activities of the plurality of the GPE/CPEunits to establish wireless MIMO communications links; and provisionbandwidth to the plurality of GPE/CPE units.
 63. The network fuser ofclaim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable to recognize theaddition of a new GPE/CPE unit connected to the network fuser andprovision bandwidth based on the addition of the new GPE/CPE unit. 64.The network fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable toprovision bandwidth to a GPE/CPE unit based on a forward link state or areverse link state of the wireless communication link between theGPE/CPE unit and another GPE/CPE unit.
 65. The network fuser of claim62, wherein the network fuser is operable to provision bandwidth to aGPE/CPE unit based on user information.
 66. The network fuser of claim65, wherein the user information comprises an access history, a userpriority, an account balance grade-of-service, or quality-of-servicerequirements.
 67. The network fuser of claim 66, wherein the networkfuser is operable to store the user information indexed by a user name,a network address, a MAC address or a flow number.
 68. The network fuserof claim 62, wherein the network fuser is further operable to provisionbandwidth to a GPE/CPE unit based on a state of a backhaul network. 69.The network fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is furtheroperable to provision bandwidth based on channel statistics.
 70. Thenetwork fuser of claim 69, wherein the channel statistics comprise adelay spread, average capacity, path loss and fading rate.
 71. Thenetwork fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable toinstruct a GPE/CPE unit to probe a channel.
 72. The network fuser ofclaim 71, wherein the GPE/CPE unit probes the channel according totraining sequences.
 73. The network fuser of 71, wherein the GPE/CPEunit can probe the channel using pilot tones.
 74. The network fuser ofclaim 71, wherein the network fuser is further operable to instruct theGPE/CPE unit to probe the channel on-line.
 75. The network fuser ofclaim 71, wherein the network fuser is further operable to instruct theGPE/CPE unit to probe the channel off-line.
 76. The network fuser ofclaim 71, wherein the network fuser is operable to instruct a pluralityof GPE/CPE units to perform channel probes to determine interferencecaused by simultaneous transmissions.
 77. The network fuser of claim 62,wherein the network fuser is further operable to derive instantaneouschannel statistics based on channel probes by GPE/CPE units.
 78. Thenetwork fuser of claim 77, wherein the instantaneous channel statisticscomprise a mean, a variance, a delay spread, a power-delay profile,Doppler, a special covariance, a correlation, or a space-timecorrelation.
 79. The network fuser of claim 62, wherein the networkfuser is operable to: determine a GPE/CPE unit with a largest queue ofdata; determine a maximum data rate that can be used to send data to theGPE/CPE with the largest queue; and if a total capacity exceeds themaximum data rate, provisioning bandwidth to send data to the GPE/CPEunit with the largest queue and using excess capacity to service otherGPE/CPE units.
 80. The network fuser of claim 79, wherein if the totalcapacity does not exceed the maximum data rate, the network fuser isoperable to provision bandwidth to only send data to the GPE/CPE unitwith the largest queue.
 81. The network fuser of claim 62, wherein thenetwork fuser is further operable to configure one or more GPE/CPE unitsto adjust a plurality of adaptive antennas.
 82. The network fuser ofclaim 81, wherein the network fuser is operable to adjust the adaptiveantennas based on user information comprising an access history, a userpriority, an account balance, grade-of-service, or quality-of-servicerequirements.
 83. The network fuser of claim 81, wherein the networkfuser is further operable to adjust adaptive antennas based on channelstatistics comprising a delay spread, average capacity, path loss,fading rate, a mean, a variance, a power-delay profile, Doppler, aspecial covariance, a correlation, or a space-time correlation.
 84. Thenetwork fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable toallocate physical layer resources to a plurality of GPE/CPE units. 85.The network fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable to:analyze packets received over the high-speed network; and configure theplurality of GPE units to wireless communicate data from the packets tothe plurality of CPE units.
 86. The network fuser of claim 62, whereinthe network fuser is operable to provision bandwidth based on usage. 87.The network fuser of claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable toprovision bandwidth based on quality of service.
 88. The network fuserof claim 62, wherein the network fuser is operable to provisionbandwidth based on service provider requirements.
 89. A method ofwireless communication comprising: receiving data from a network at acontrol device; providing radio frequency (“RF”) configurationinformation from the control device to a first gateway/customer premisesequipment (GPE/CPE) unit via a control data transport link between thecontrol device and the first GPE/CPE unit; providing digital signalprocessing (“DSP”) configuration information from the control device tothe first GPE/CPE unit via the control data transport link; andcoordinating the activity of the first gateway/customer premisesequipment (GPE/CPE) unit and a second GPE/CPE to establish wirelesscommunications links.
 90. The method of claim 89, wherein providing DSPconfiguration information further comprises indicating a space-timealgorithm to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit.
 91. The method ofclaim 89, wherein providing DSP configuration information furthercomprises indicating a coding to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit.92. The method of claim 89, wherein providing DSP configurationinformation further comprises indicating a modulation to be applied bythe first GPE/CPE unit.
 93. The method of claim 89, further comprisingconfiguring an RF backplane of the first GPE/CPE unit.
 94. The method ofclaim 89, further comprising configuring the first GPE/CPE unit toestablish a MIMO communications link with a the second GPE/CPE unit. 95.The method of claim 89, further comprising instructing the first GPE/CPEunit to probe a channel.
 96. The method of claim 89, further comprisingprovisioning bandwidth to a communication link established between thefirst GPE/CPE unit and the second GPE/CPE unit.
 97. The method of claim89, further comprising providing access controls.
 98. The method ofclaim 89, wherein the first GPE/CPE unit further comprises one or moreadaptive antennas, and wherein the method further comprises configuringthe first GPE/CPE unit to adjust the one or more adaptive antennas. 99.The method of claim 98, wherein said configuring the first GPE/CPE unitto adjust the one or more adaptive antennas comprises configuring thefirst GPE/CPE unit to adjust one or more beam patterns.
 100. The methodof claim 89, further comprising provisioning data to a second GPE/CPEunit connected to the control device via the control data transportmedium.
 101. A method of wireless communication comprising: receivingdata from a network at a control device; providing radio frequency(“RF”) configuration information from the control device to a firstgateway/customer premises equipment (GPE/CPE) unit via a control datatransport link between the control device and the first GPE/CPE unit;providing digital signal processing (“DSP”) configuration informationfrom the control device to the first GPE/CPE unit via the control datatransport link; and configuring the first GPE/CPE unit based oninstantaneous channel data received from the first GPE/CPE unit.
 102. Amethod of wireless communication comprising: receiving data from anetwork at a control device; providing radio frequency (“RF”)configuration information from the control device to a firstgateway/customer premises equipment (GPE/CPE) unit via a control datatransport link between the control device and the first GPE/CPE unit;providing digital signal processing (“DSP”) configuration informationfrom the control device to the first GPE/CPE unit via the control datatransport link; and configuring the first GPE/CPE unit based oninstantaneous channel data derived by the second GPE/CPE unit.
 103. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that,upon execution by a processor, result in the execution of operationscomprising: receiving data from a network; providing radio frequency(“RF”) configuration information to a first gateway/customer premisesequipment (GPE/CPE) unit via a control data transport link to the firstGPE/CPE unit; providing digital signal processing (“DSP”) configurationinformation to the first GPE/CPE unit via the control data transportlink; and coordinating the activity of the first gateway/customerpremises equipment (GPE/CPE) unit and a second GPE/CPE to establishwireless communications links.
 104. The medium of claim 103, whereinproviding DSP configuration information further comprises indicating aspace-time algorithm to be applied by the first GPE/CPE unit.
 105. Themedium of claim 103, wherein providing DSP configuration informationfurther comprises indicating a coding to be applied by the first GPE/CPEunit.
 106. The medium of claim 103, wherein providing DSP configurationinformation further comprises indicating a modulation to be applied bythe first GPE/CPE unit.
 107. The medium of claim 103, said operationsfurther comprising configuring an RF backplane of the first GPE/CPEunit.
 108. The medium of claim 103, said operations further comprisingconfiguring the first GPE/CPE unit to establish a MIMO communicationslink with the second GPE/CPE unit.
 109. The medium of claim 108, saidoperations further comprising configuring the first GPE/CPE unit basedon instantaneous channel data received from the first GPE/CPE unit. 110.The medium of claim 108, said operations further comprising configuringthe first GPE/CPE unit based on instantaneous channel data derived bythe second GPE/CPE unit.
 111. The medium of claim 103, said operationsfurther comprising instructing the first GPE/CPE unit to probe achannel.
 112. The medium of claim 103, said operations furthercomprising provisioning bandwidth to a communication link establishedbetween the first GPE/CPE unit and the second GPE/CPE unit.
 113. Themedium of claim 103, said operations further comprising providing accesscontrols.
 114. The medium of claim 103, wherein the first GPE/CPE unitfurther comprises one or more adaptive antennas, and wherein saidoperations further comprise configuring the first GPE/CPE unit to adjustthe one or more adaptive antennas.
 115. The medium of claim 114, whereinsaid configuring the first GPE/CPE unit to adjust the one or moreadaptive antennas comprises configuring the first GPE/CPE unit to adjustone or more beam patterns.
 116. The medium of claim 103, said operationsfurther comprising provisioning data to a second GPE/CPE unit via thecontrol data transport medium.